Page 3 - DFCS News Magazine Summer 2013

By Chuck Sweeney
It never ceases to amaze me how some things seem to come togeth- er at the right time. In July, I attended a surprise 90th birthday par- ty for a good friend and DFCS member, Hans Petermann, at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Hans served in the Army Air Force in WWII and Korea and was awarded a DFC in Korea. He was one of the founding members of the DFC Society, was Treasurer for quite a number of years, and also handled the memorabilia orders.
Phyllis Laderman, Hans’ daughter, helped make this a perfect party for Hans, and Pete, Hans’ son, gave a moving speech to honor his Dad. Hans was very happy to visit with the large turnout of family and friends. Among the many family members was Sarah Lader- man, Hans’ granddaughter and winner of one of the DFCS scholar- ships. I had the opportunity to talk with Sarah for quite a while and was curious to hear her thoughts on the scholarship and what her future plans were. I naively thought she was still in school (time slips by too quickly). Sarah was awarded her scholarship in the
Sarah and Hans at her graduation from MIT in 2012
spring of 2010. Turns out that Sarah had graduated from MIT in 2012 and has been working for a year.
The DFCS Scholarship Selection Committee, the DFCS membership, and the Petermann family can be very proud of Sarah, as she repre- sents the best of the youth of today. Sarah was very grateful for the scholarship and filled me in on her career. She graduated from MIT with a degree in Nuclear Engineering and a degree in Political Sci- ence. She is working in the Pentagon for SAIC on Air Force pro- grams, which is a great indication of her ability. We often hear bad news about the younger generation, and not enough about the pro- ductive young people. Sarah is extremely bright, very down to earth, and easy to talk with. I feel very lucky to have had the oppor- tunity to meet one of our scholarship winners. We can be proud of what we have done for our descendants, and I feel we need to do more which brings up the coincidence part of the story.
The day after Hans’ party, I received an email from another long- time DFCS member planned to donate a substantial amount of mon- ey to the DFC Society Permanent Scholarship Fund. He had original- ly placed this money in his trust, but recently decided to donate it now, rather than after his flight west. This member has made sever- al substantial donations previously to the DFCS, including one to start a permanent scholarship fund. The goal of this fund is to in- vest the money and have the interest pay for one $1,000 scholarship
each year. This member has also made substantial contributions to the Operating Fund. I sent him the picture of Sarah and Hans at her graduation. He was thrilled to hear about Sarah’s story, as it made his donations even more personal.
What makes this coincidence so pertinent is that the deadline (11/15/13) for scholarship applications is fast approaching. One of the goals of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society is to provide scholarships for the children and grandchildren of our members. We typically award four $1,000 scholarships each year to worthy applicants. Each year the number of applications far exceeds the number of scholarships we can afford to give, and the number keeps growing as our membership grows. The Scholarship Com- mittee struggles each year to select the four winners, as most of the applicants are qualified to receive funding. We would love to pro- vide an unlimited number of scholarships each year; however, our limited funds prevent us from doing so. There are many great stu- dents like Sarah, so let’s not let our children and grandchildren down. Let’s dig deep and show them we really care. Thank you all in advance for your generosity.
The scholarship donation form is below and the scholarship appli- cation form can be downloaded from our website, www.dfcsociety.org.
DFCS, PO Box 502408, San Diego, CA 92150
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The Distinguished Flying Cross News